I don't think that "should be the natural default configuration", people are bound to want to use Bluetooth on their computers without having to turn it on (you don't seem to have a Bluetooth mouse or keyboard, if those were your primary input devices you'd want Bluetooth on from boot). However I do agree that a way to choose how you want Bluetooth to be on boot would be useful to have.
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roadmrMay 4 '12 at 20:25

17

The normal and natural thing is to let you choose, in the bluetooth settings, whether you want it on or off when it boots. It is not natural to have people turning it off or on every time they turn on their computer. We are talking about making Linux the best desktop system, not the worst, aren't we?
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RobertMay 4 '12 at 20:30

21 Answers
21

You should still be able to enable Bluetooth through the top bar applet.

This should work for most systems but it looks like there are a few bugs lurking in the kernel's ACPI for Thinkpads. If you're on a Thinkpad, add the following to /etc/rc.local:

echo disable > /proc/acpi/ibm/bluetooth

Or check out ibm-acpi - IBM ThinkPad ACPI Extras Driver -- some reports suggest that ibm-acpi includes bluetooth control (amongst other nice things). But I don't have the hardware so I'm completely unable to verify these claims. Good luck.

Neither worked for me (ThinkPad x201) when I placed them one at a time in /etc/rc.local. The rfkill block bluetooth command does work, but not on startup. The -x flag is set on /etc/rc.local. I'm running Xubuntu 13.10.
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Kyle FalconerDec 20 '13 at 7:34

doesn't work for samsung laptop 530u3b, bluetooth is always on after reboot and wake up
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Maxim KimAug 27 '12 at 18:51

This would only work if I also used Saeed Zarinfam's answer of putting /etc/init.d/bluetooth stop in rc.local. It seems that when the service starts up, it also brings the power on for bluetooth. I needed both to get this to work. (ThinkPad x201, Xubuntu 13.10)
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Kyle FalconerDec 20 '13 at 7:57

Thanks for that, that does seem to work but I was trying to avoid command line stuff as per my original question. You would think this would be as simple as ticking a box so that it remembered that I don't want BT to start automatically but it looks like its way more complicated than that. With Ubuntu's drive for quicker boot times and the general focus on power consumption in laptops and netbooks I am suprised that this has never been addressed. I appreciate the help though.
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Chris GiltnaneAug 19 '10 at 9:52

7

"Run gedit as root and edit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf" <-- ok, is that less command line for ya?
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macoAug 19 '10 at 13:35

1

Works fine on Samsung Q35 with Ubuntu 13.10, while the 'rfkill block bluetooth' approach does not. Thanks!
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user27164Jan 6 '14 at 8:29

DELL E6410 works for me. Good that can run again on the go without reset.
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Ruslan GerasimovJun 13 '14 at 10:24

rfkill block bluetooth.......What does that?. I don't want to suppress the use of bluetooth. I just want to have the service on but turned off. Like so many people and like you do in many devices and systems. Why not in the new Ubuntu? Can't it be like in previous releases?
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RobertMay 4 '12 at 22:55

1

This is set soft block to bluetooth, I think it same as turn off its service and works well.
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Smile.HunterAug 17 '12 at 13:45

@Robert: $ man rfkill: "Disable the device corresponding to the given index." Despite the name, it is only disabling BT; just try the command rfkill block bluetooth on the terminal, you should see the icon go gray.
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DanielJun 13 at 17:54

Thank you, desgua, I was thinking about this kind of tools. I have used some in the past but they become obsolete and the new ubuntu, with their minimalistic obsession, comes with nothing of the kind. Is this the only yo know or the best yo know?
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RobertMay 5 '12 at 0:15

It always worked fine so I never look for another tool...
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desguaMay 5 '12 at 0:21

Maybe works but at first it has disappointed me because it started showing the bluetooth as not activated at boot time, why? and as not running when rfkill, the applet and hciconfig show it running. I turn off and on but bum continues showing the service as off. I activated the service at boot-up but the status of the service continues to be wrong.
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RobertMay 5 '12 at 1:26

Sorry. I think BUM is not the way to set this then. My mistake. I don't have bluetooth to test.
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desguaMay 5 '12 at 1:30

This removed the bluetooth tray icon but left my bluetooth indicator light on (indicating power was still being sent to the radio). Edit: this in conjunction with Stepbaer's answer (InitiallyPowered = false) worked for me. (ThinkPad x201, Xubuntu 13.10)
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Kyle FalconerDec 20 '13 at 7:59

this did not work on my 64-bit Ubuntu 14.04 dell inspiron. Only rfkill worked for me.
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faizalJun 17 '14 at 7:19

No. It is not always in the startup applcations list. I think that the best solution is to add the rfkill command in rc.local script or to set the InitiallyPowered parameter in /etc/bluetooth/main.conf.

Do you think that sudo smbios-wireless-ctl --boot --bt 0 would work? Also, I'm not sure, but this may be Dell-specific.
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HitechcomputergeekMay 2 at 18:48

Actually, the package smbios-utils performs bios commands, so it switches on and off physical devices related to bios, so you may also use it to switch on and off wifi etc. I'm not sure if it works with any bios or not. At least, it works well with Dell. By the way, the last installations of Ubuntu 14.04 do same things with bluetooth and wifi applets, so I don't need any more in that package.
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victorMay 3 at 19:22

I knew that. But if you do smbios-wireless-ctl --help, part of it has --boot Set BIOS boot-time setting. I didn't know they fixed the Bluetooth, though; thanks for telling me.
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HitechcomputergeekMay 4 at 21:29